Ted and Lynn

Homeless residents of Oppenheimer Park in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

This couple told me that city workers in a truck approached them at 4:00 AM and, in the rain, told them to dismantle the tent or it would be seized.

Nearly 40,000 turnaways from shelters in the region from April to December 2007, and it's not okay to sleep in a tent in a city park. Lynn mentioned the city workers leave those sleeping out in the open alone, but are aggressive with those who pitch tents. Both complained that drug dealers across the park are left alone to do business, while they're not allowed to set up temporary shelter from the rain.

Under the ruling Non-Partisan Association, the city's pre-Olympic image has become more important than its residents. When the government announced Project Civil City a couple of years ago, it listed a 50% reduction in homelessness by 2010 as one of its goals. No one likes homelessness, so how could anyone complain? Well, there are different ways to achieve that goal and comparatively few Vancouver residents expected the NPA's method would involve making life in the city so inhospitable for the homeless that half of them would choose to leave before the Olympic Games.

Across the country in Toronto, the municipal government has embarked on a massive social housing program. This, while the province of Ontario is in economic decline and British Columbia is in the midst of a boom.

MasterCard World Centres of Commerce and the Economist Intelligence Unit have recently handed Vancouver the distinction of having the best quality of life compared with cities worldwide. Clearly, the quality of life of Vancouver's homeless and under-housed population is not factored into the equation.